Sometimes God speaks to us in the strangest places. This is one such blog...

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Day 7 - "He lives in the Emerald City, and that's a long journey from here"

I slept until 9 am. Glorious.

I woke up in a dream world, after having awakened in one of the most beautiful cities in America - Savannah, Georgia. If you've never been, you should go.

Leaving Peachtree City yesterday allowed me to drive for about 5 hours going southeast across Georgia...pretty much downhill all the way. Those 5 hours were great. I really do love driving, and am tolerating being alone in the car. Those 5 hours weren't filled with intense dialogue with Jesus. I listened to the Wizard of Oz on an audiobook.

I love that story. Clearly. I've loved it for a long time. I've owned a few pairs of ruby slippers. (The photo on the right is of my current pair.) I wrote a Theology of the Wizard of Oz, called "Ozology". I even had to write a huge paper in college about an epic story (sparing the Iliad and the Odyssey, or course) and I chose the Wizard of Oz. Clearly, I am a fan.

Listening to the story as I drove past thousands and thousands of the greenest trees, I felt like I was en route to the Emerald City. In the story, when Dorothy comes up against the Lion (who tries to hurt poor Toto), her heart swells with love and flies to the defense of Toto, despite her fear of the beast. She jumps into action and swats the Lion away and calls him a coward for trying to hurt little Toto. Dorothy is brave, and quite honestly, I have felt brave these past few days...mainly because my mom said she couldn't believe I was doing this and that she'd never be brave enough to. AND, to make my life more and more like Dorothy's, I noticed I was on a yellow brick road! Okay, not a literal one, but have you ever noticed that the sides of highways have that thick yellow line painted on them?!? Maybe you have and you think "Becca, seriously, everyone know that...you're not a character from a storybook" but I felt transported into a fairy tale epic. I feel like I'm living in an epic. I mean, we all are, but it hit me in a new way.

My "Wizard of Oz" is not a poser though. He doesn't change. He doesn't hide behind a curtain. He is who He says He is. He can do all He says He can, with no catches or hidden fine print. And I know that I am safe from all harm through my own "kiss on the forehead from the Good Witch of the North that doesn't allow anyone to hurt me", aka, the indelible mark I received at Baptism and Confirmation.

I could go on and on, but I will not. I've got an adventure to live today in Savannah....it looks like my very own Oz. Seriously, it's so green here. It's colorful and filled with newness. And it makes me feel like anything is possible. That sounds so cliche, huh? Oh well. Adventure is meant to be lived and THEN written about, not the other way around. Hasta luego mis amigos.